N.Y. to new buildings: No gas for you!

Your guide to the political forces shaping the energy transformation

May 04, 2023 View in browser   By Arianna Skibell New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (center) join New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) for state budget-related announcements. | Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office New York is going hard on clean power. Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) signed into law a sweeping package of clean energy provisions this week, including the nation’s first statewide ban on natural gas in new buildings and the East Coast’s first cap-and-invest program, David Iaconangelo writes. The measures in the state’s $229 billion budget also authorize New York’s public power utility to build, own and operate new clean energy projects, removing existing limitations. The policies mark the state’s most ambitious actions toward meeting its climate goals. In 2019, New York passed a law requiring the state’s power grid to be carbon-free by 2040. It also set deep pollution reduction targets with a goal of slashing 85 percent of greenhouse gas emissions by midcentury. Cap and invest: When it comes to the cap-and-invest initiative, there are still many details to be ironed out. The program would cap the amount of climate emissions energy companies and other polluters are allowed to emit while auctioning off a set number of pollution allowances. Profits from the auctions would be used to invest in more clean energy and related infrastructure. Which polluters would be authorized to buy allowances, and therefore pollute more, is still up for debate. It’s a decision likely to prove highly contentious. Tension ensues: Not everyone in the state is a fan of the new policies. The Independent Power Producers of New York — a trade group whose members include fossil fuel generators, along with nuclear, solar, wind and hydropower operators — said the measures could raise electricity rates and destabilize the electric grid. Grid operators have also raised concerns about reliability as New York greens its power sources. Transmission is the main hurdle, with a zero-carbon grid largely hinging on a major planned hydropower transmission line slated for completion by 2026. But environmental advocates say the provisions are a major policy breakthrough. The Public Power NY Coalition, which includes left-leaning green groups and chapters of the Democratic Socialists of America, said the budget contained “the most transformational climate and green jobs bill in the nation.”   It's Thursday — thank you for tuning in to POLITICO's Power Switch. I'm your host, Arianna Skibell. Power Switch is brought to you by the journalists behind E&E News and POLITICO Energy. Send your tips, comments, questions to askibell@eenews.net. Listen to today’s POLITICO Energy podcast Today in POLITICO Energy’s podcast: Josh Siegel breaks down why Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia has been criticizing the Biden administration's implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act, and why that has Democrats worried. Parched crops, hungry cows Cattle forage on a dusty pasture at Black Diamond Angus Ranch in Spearville, Kan. | Marc Heller/POLITICO's E&E News America's breadbasket is drying up. The Great Plains, which is the center of U.S. bread flour production, is experiencing an extended and severe drought that began in 2021, Marc Heller writes. Short on pasture and feed, some farmers have sent a quarter or even a third of their cattle to slaughter. And unless there's significant and repeated rainfall soon, thousands of acres may not produce a meaningful wheat crop. If this is what climate change looks like for the region, farmers and agriculture researchers say, the southern Plains are in for periods of scarcity that could reshape what farmers produce, how they produce it and what consumers can expect to pay at the grocery store.   GET READY FOR GLOBAL TECH DAY: Join POLITICO Live as we launch our first Global Tech Day alongside London Tech Week on Thursday, June 15. Register now for continuing updates and to be a part of this momentous and program-packed day! From the blockchain, to AI, and autonomous vehicles, technology is changing how power is exercised around the world, so who will write the rules? REGSITER HERE.     Power Centers Traffic in downtown Los Angeles is shown. American universities such as UCLA are deeply involved in efforts to remove carbon dioxide from the sky. | Mario Tama/Getty Images New players Applications for federal money to build facilities that suck carbon pollution directly from the air are rolling in, but unlike traditional applicant pools, this one includes academic institutions, writes Corbin Hiar. Direct air capture is "still very much an evolving field, and so I think it’s a very different landscape for universities to play a much more active role,” said Joseph Hezir, who served as the Energy Department's chief financial officer and a senior adviser under former President Barack Obama. Biden policy rebuked The Senate voted 56 to 41 on Wednesday to rescind the Biden administration’s two-year pause on tariffs for imports of solar equipment from four Southeast Asian countries — a rare bipartisan rebuke of the president’s energy and trade policies, writes Kelsey Tamborrino. The upper chamber also voted 50 to 48 to end Endangered Species Act protections for the lesser prairie chicken. Manchin was the lone Democrat to join the Republican majority, write Nico Portuondo and Kelsey Brugger. The White House has said President Joe Biden will veto both measures. In Other News Take it to court: Environmentalists are suing California over recent regulatory actions that would reduce rooftop solar incentives. Investigation: The Federal Communications Commission is supposed to protect the environment. It doesn’t.   LISTEN TO POLITICO'S ENERGY PODCAST: Check out our daily five-minute brief on the latest energy and environmental politics and policy news. Don't miss out on the must-know stories, candid insights, and analysis from POLITICO's energy team. Listen today.     Subscriber Zone A showcase of some of our best subscriber content. Trucks drive through the Port of Oakland on March 31 in Oakland, Calif. | Justin Sullivan/Getty Images A federal plan to cut planet-warming pollution from the trucking industry has ignited a national debate over how to weigh public health considerations against economic ones. Virginia's largest utility has proposed a long-term energy plan that focuses on building new gas plants and advanced nuclear reactors, prompting pushback from clean energy advocates. The European Union wants to become a global carbon-cutting trailblazer. But when it comes to slashing truck CO2 emissions, it’s not Brussels leading the charge — it’s California. That's it for today, folks! Thanks for reading.   Follow us on Twitter Arianna Skibell @ariannaskibell   Follow us

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